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92_HR0671
LRB9215958RHrhB
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives wish to express their sincere condolences to
4 the family and friends of James W. Clement, who passed away
5 on January 30, 2002; and
6 WHEREAS, Jim Clement was a Chicago patent lawyer who
7 pushed for racial integration and equality in Chicago's
8 public schools; he was among the most memorable members of
9 the Chicago Board of Education, although he served only two
10 years, from 1964 to 1966; and
11 WHEREAS, A vocal opponent of Chicago Public School
12 Superintendent Benjamin Willis, Mr. Clement was especially
13 critical on integration matters, including the use of mobile
14 classrooms--critics at the time called them Willis Wagons--to
15 relieve overcrowding in schools that were mostly or all
16 black, without ending racial segregation in the system; and
17 WHEREAS, A lifelong Illinois resident and a resident of
18 Hyde Park for 50 years, Mr. Clement earned bachelor's degrees
19 in chemistry in 1935, making Phi Beta Kappa and Bronze Table,
20 and in physics in 1943, and obtained a master's degree in
21 chemistry in 1936, all from the University of Illinois; he
22 received a law degree in 1941 from Northwestern University;
23 and
24 WHEREAS, Mr. Clement spent the summers of 1935 and 1936
25 building homes in Quaker work camps, first for coal miners in
26 Pennsylvania then in Switzerland following a landslide; at
27 the 1936 Olympics in Berlin he watched the heroics of Jesse
28 Owens and Ralph Metcalfe, the latter of whom became a
29 congressman and a longtime friend of Mr. Clement's; he also
30 spent a year teaching chemistry, physics, English and choir
31 at the American School for Boys in Baghdad, Iraq; and
-2- LRB9215958RHrhB
1 WHEREAS, Mr. Clement served in the military from 1943 to
2 1946, serving stateside in both the Army and the Navy; and
3 WHEREAS, Mr. Clement clerked for Otto Kerner Sr., a judge
4 on the U.S. Court of Appeals and father of Illinois Governor
5 Otto Kerner, and served in Governor Adlai E. Stevenson's
6 administration as counselor to the finance director; in
7 addition he mentored a number of state lawmakers, one of whom
8 was former Illinois congressman and former U.S. Court of
9 Appeals Chief Judge Abner Mikva; and
10 WHEREAS, Mr. Clement was a partner in the intellectual
11 property law firms of Dressler, Goldsmith, Clement & Gordon
12 and Clement & Ryan, where he continued to practice patent and
13 trademark law until shortly before his death; and
14 WHEREAS, Mr. Clement served on the boards of the Illinois
15 division of the American Civil Liberties Union, Thresholds,
16 and the Committee on Illinois Government; in addition, he was
17 a member of the Illinois Bar Association for 60 years; and
18 WHEREAS, Mr. Clement played tennis until a knee injury
19 forced him to stop at 83; and
20 WHEREAS, Jim Clement was a devoted husband, father and
21 family man who reveled in the activities and accomplishments
22 of his wife of 49 years, and his children, including his
23 daughter Jill, who preceded him in death; and
24 WHEREAS, The death of Jim Clement will be deeply felt by
25 all who knew and loved him, especially his wife, Kay; his
26 daughter, Kim; his sons, John, Adam and Peter, and his seven
27 grandchildren; therefore, be it
28 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
29 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
30 we mourn, along with all who knew him, the death of Jim
31 Clement of Chicago; and be it further
-3- LRB9215958RHrhB
1 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
2 presented to the family of James W. Clement with our sincere
3 condolences.